Over the past decades, welding has become a dominant process in fabricating industrial and commercial products. Applications for welding are wide spread and used throughout the world. Examples include the construction of ships, buildings, vehicles and pipe lines. Welding is also used in repairing or modifying existing products. Among the various methods of joining metal components, arc welding is one well known and very common process.
Arc welding may employ consumable welding wire, which in some instances may be wound on a spool for ease of dispensing. For purposes of protection during storage and shipping, such spools may be placed in cardboard cartons. While such cartons have provided sufficient protection during bulk shipment of spooled electrodes to distributors, the market for direct-to-consumer shipping requires additional safeguards for spools. Accordingly, what is needed is a packaging member which cushions the face of spool in a carton in the event that a carton is dropped on one of its faces, as well as a packaging member which adds additional stability to a shipping carton at its corners in the case where a carton is dropped on an edge or corner.